John Featherman
Featherman ::Source: John Featherman's issues page was harvested in March, 2006. However, by May, 22, 2006, the page was missing. Intro You'll see that I'm a straight-shooter, and my views are clear. I'm not a typical politician who changes my stance depending upon the audience I'm addressing. I'm an issues guy, so check back for more items during the campaign. PRIVACY As a privacy advocate who wants to protect your civil liberties as an American, I've spent my adult life helping victims of identity theft, stalking, and fraud. I've helped people protect their medical privacy, financial privacy, and communications privacy. So I promise to take my expertise as a privacy advocate and use it to protect your private affairs from being monitored by others. I will fight to protect you against overreaching laws such as the Patriot Act which promise you security, but stomp on your civil liberties and actually offer you less security. ABORTION RIGHTS I am pro-choice. I fully support a woman's right to choose without governmental intervention. TAXES I favor a flat tax with an exemption for a base income and tax the rest at a fixed rate with no deductions. We already have a flat tax in Pennsylvania. Why not extend it to the federal government? I am also in favor of eliminating the estate/death tax. IRAQ Withdraw within 2-3 years. We owe our men and women in uniform an enormous debt of gratitude for their sacrifices, and it's time to bring them home. GUNS The gun debate is not a black and white issue, but it's been turned into a "you're with us or you're against us," as Senator Russ Feingold has said. The Second Amendment should be interpreted to allow people to have the right to bear arms, but only under certain "conditions": the right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes; hunting and sport, and self-protection. Law-abiding gun owners should not be under attack. Conversely, we must protect the public from the onslaught of illegal weapons and random acts of gun violence that are killing innocent people. Finally, I do not support gun manufactures from having 100% immunity from lawsuits. As an example, if a gun manufacturer knows or has reason to believe that a dealer is in fact a "straw dealer" and still continues to sell guns to them, I believe the manufacturer should be liable. THE RIGHT TO QUALITY HEALTH CARE Everyone should have the right to get health care, but government is not solely responsible, nor should it be. The combination of the free market and the proper restraints from the HMOs, doctors and the public to control costs is in order. MALPRACTICE AND LAWSUITS I favor a strict cap on punitive damages (pain and suffering), which will then be indexed to inflation. Punishments must now include license suspensions and revocations and jail time for egregious acts or clear negligence. Corporations must face possible bans on officers' participation (or liquidation) and voiding of patents or trademark rights or copyrights i.e. personal or corporate asset forfeiture. Malpractice insurance rates must be lowered through a combination of caps on lawsuits, caps on awards, caps on fees and removal of bad practitioners from the insurance pool - and make them personally liable if they screw up. Make doctors stop over-prescribing and over-testing just because they're afraid of being sued -- and lower the cost of health care for everyone in the process! EDUCATION Vouchers harm public schools and should be banned in favor of tax credits for parents who send their children to non-public schools. NCLB (No Child Left Behind) is a bad policy because it does not take into account factors such as poorer school districts and the like. Rather, provide more funding for Head Start and other early-childhood education programs. INTELLIGENT DESIGN While controversial, Intelligent Design has a place -- classes are taught every Sunday at your house or at the house of worship of your choice. However, it doesn't belong in the public schools because it introduces faith and religion into the public schools -- a state program -- and church doctrine does not belong in state programs. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE I support freedom of religion, but also strong separations between church and state, as intended by the founding fathers. Keep religion out of politics, and politics out of religion. I do not support taxpayer funded faith-based initiatives. EQUALITY I am pro-gay marriage and pro-gay rights. Although Rick Santorum has the right to differ with me, why does he have to degrade gays by offensively saying "It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be?" WOMEN'S RIGHTS Rick Santorum's attitudes about women and the workplace are well known. He extols the virtues of women staying at home, which is fine, but I know that in the real world, most women have to work. In fact, more women should be encouraged to join the economy - and make it grow. Women-owned businesses number 9.1 million and employ 27.5 million people and contribute $3.6 trillion to the U.S. economy. (Small Business Administration Website, 2005.) ECONOMY I support small businesses and entrepreneurs that are the catalysts that drive economic growth. We need to encourage more small businesses to form and create jobs. The only way we can do that is to make communities more appealing to businesses which means providing a more-talented workforce, lowering wage taxes that employees must pay, and reducing so-called "business privilege" taxes. While U.S. Senators cannot directly influence the local taxes on wage earners and businesses, we sure can indirectly influence them. UNFUNDED GOVERNMENT MANDATES Government agencies and rule systems are effectively putting small businesses out of business. Unfunded government mandates are new duties on states, local governments or private companies which are unreimbursed by the federal government. I want them to stop. SOCIAL SECURITY I support means testing. Means testing determines whether or not an individual or family is eligible to receive Social Security benefits from the government. The test can consist of quantifying the party's income, or assets, or a combination of both. It's a common-sense solution to our impending crisis in funding the program. By means testing, liberals will be happy that those who need the benefits the most will get them; likewise, conservatives will be happy because not as much money will be necessary to fund Social Security. It's a win-win situation! JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS I prefer moderate justices who follow the law. I am opposed to judicial activism. Judges who are either too liberal or too conservative are often guilty of creating legislation from the bench. ON RICK SANTORUM'S NEW BOOK, "IT TAKES A FAMILY" Rick Santorum's book shows him to be way out of step with mainstream Pennsylvania and the country as a whole. Examples? Well, the book insults and degrades women in several places. Santorum blames women working outside the home on radical feminism (Page 95); Santorum thinks it's wrong to help unwed mothers get a college degree (Page 138); Santorum compares a woman's right to choose to slavery (Page 241); Santorum believes "diversity" is an aberration or error (Page 406); Santorum feels working families can afford to struggle by with one worker parent and one child caretaker parent if they "took an honest look at the budget" (Page 94); Santorum thinks the courts are both "anti-democratic" and too "activist" (Page 222); Santorum believes in privatizing Social Security (Page 154); Santorum thinks public schools provide "weird socialization" (Page 386). As we are learning, Santorum's extreme policies only go to undermine traditional American values of fair play and equal protection. END OF LIFE DECISIONS I favor personal choice and advanced directives being honored. I support the right to die with dignity. If you have any questions about dying with dignity, then contact your local hospice. I am against government meddling in private family matters, such as the Terri Schiavo case. ENERGY Alternative renewable energy sources should be subsidized by the U.S. government through tax credits and incentives rather than outright grants to allow such technologies to develop in the marketplace without the disruption of oil price fluctuations. Just as the industrialized world moved to coal when wood became scarce as a fuel and petroleum became a major fuel source in the 20th century, wind, geothermal, solar and hydroelectric energy will need to become viable energy sources in the 21st century. Renewed use of nuclear fission as an energy resource should also be investigated since current light water reactor designs are more efficient and safer than their counterparts which were last licensed in the 1970's. The U.S. government through the Department of Energy should increase funding of research for nuclear fusion with the intent of commercialization of this energy resource in the 21st century. TRANSPORTATION I propose a national intra-transportation system, with subsidized public transit in the cities, and Amtrak-like train services supplanting or replacing some long car and air commutes. CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy Statute) should be enhanced and strictly enforced. DISASTER AID Government owes its citizens the help they need to reclaim their lives. However, we should not allow repetitively-disaster-prone regions such as New Orleans to be repopulated and then expect help more than once. FEMA needs to be fixed, and be more responsive and anticipatory of the needs of injured populations. THE WAR ON DRUGS The so-called "war on drugs" is a failure that has led to a war on our own people. Instead, we should concentrate on the real problem -- drug addiction -- and put the money we spend on the "war on drugs" into rehabilitation. Exit Statement from John Featherman (harvested on May 22, 2006) On March 14, 2006, Pennsylvania GOP executive director Scott Migli and political director Allison Coccia filed a petition in Commonwealth Court to remove my name from the ballot for the Republican Primary for the office of United States Senator. This challenge came four days after Senator Rick Santorum invited me to debate him. On March 15, 2006, I met with the counsel from the state GOP. Their case was legitimate and strong. We simply did not have enough registered Republican signers on our nomination petitions. Rather than belabor the inevitable, I withdrew. Shortly afterwards, Senator Santorum called me to thank me for the professional manner in which I handled the situation. He was sincere and personable. We chatted briefly, during which time I told him that he has my full support when it comes to his tireless efforts on behalf of the small businesses in Pennsylvania. While Senator Santorum and I may have different solutions on social issues, I am 100% behind him on his solutions to building Pennsylvania's economy. So are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business, which both recently gave him a 100% rating. While I am not yet officially endorsing any candidate in this race, I feel that Senator Santorum's strongest opponent -- Bob Casey, Jr. -- has publicly taken several positions that would lead to reckless tax increases. I have real concerns about funding programs -- valuable or not -- without specifying where the money will come from. Currently, there are four major party candidates on the official ballot for the U.S. Senate seat. They are: :* Republican: Rick Santorum (www.ricksantorum.com) :* Democrat: Bob Casey, Jr. (www.caseyforpa.com) :* Democrat: Chuck Pennacchio (www.chuck2006.com) :* Democrat: Alan Sandals (www.alansandals.com) Mr. Pennacchio and Mr. Sandals have worked very hard to promote their candidacies. I personally attended two of their debates, and I was impressed by their preparation and enthusiasm. While I don't share their fiscal views, I do think they deserve the full consideration of Democratic voters. It is also possible there may be third-party candidates and independents on the ballot. Some third-parties that are likely to field candidates are: :* The Constitutional Party: (www.constitutionpartypa.com) :* The Green Party: (www.greenpartypa.org) :* The Libertarian Party: (www.lppa.org) On April 15th, Featherman.com will return to my true love -- a Website dedicated to protecting your privacy. I continue to teach courses at Temple University on how to prevent identity theft, and there will be plenty of great privacy tips incorporated on this Website. I have to make a living, so I'll be returning as a Realtor® with Prudential Fox & Roach. I enjoy bringing buyers and sellers together, and I'm never too busy for any referrals. What can I say? I can't give enough thanks to the countless number of people that have supported me politically over the years, as well as the newcomers that brought an exceptional degree of enthusiasm to the race. I can't tell you how, when or where, but quoting the Terminator, I can tell you that "I'll be back!" Links * John Featherman's poltical web site * Blog entry on John Featherman pulling out of race in March, 2006 * Privacy-plank-featherman Featherman